Board of Health candidate Connolly on recreational marijuana

Friday

Mar 31, 2017 at 1:42 PM

Emma R. Murphy emurphy@wickedlocal.com @MurphReports

As part of a three-part series, candidates in contested races for the Board of Health and the School Committee will answer one question from the Needham Times each week. Below are their answers to the third question.

Candidate Peter Connolly is running for election to the Needham Board of Health.

How do you think the town should address recreational marijuana?

Marijuana has been legalized in Massachusetts, but the recent referendum, (which was supported by only 45 percent of voters in Needham) left a number of issues unanswered.

Needham has a number of existing regulations that relate to the use of tobacco products, to prevent exposure of others to second-hand smoke: these should apply to marijuana as well.

We live in a town with a falling, but still high, rate of substance use by youth. It is clear that the growing brain is more vulnerable, in the short and long term, to alcohol, marijuana, or other intoxicants, than that of an adult. It is also clear that we cannot rely on the drug industry to protect under-aged users from the long-term effects of their products, legal or otherwise.

We should continue to vigorously support the work of the Substance prevention Alliance to reduce underage use. Before retail marijuana becomes a fact of life, we need to explore ways to reduce teen access to this potentially dangerous substance.

When we raised the age to purchase tobacco a decade ago, we saw a significant drop in underage smoking. Access makes a difference for youth. The existing State regulation allows us to prevent retail marijuana distribution inside Needham. Given that adults will have ready access from other sources, we should consider refusing to allow the marijuana industry to set up shop in Needham, in order to reduce access by our vulnerable young people, without unduly limiting the rights of adults.

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